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Magazine
Bangalore
YUSUF ARAKKAL calls himself "unreligious", so why has he chosen to paint Jesus Christ? This well-known artist used to sell popular "portraits" of Christ in the 1960s when he was struggling to earn a living. But at the turn of the century, when he was searching for a subject for a "millennium painting", he chose Christ because "he stood for peace".
Arakkal hit upon a Salvador Dali image of Christ in a book, and used it as his model. He worked on the painting for six months in 1999, gave it the finishing touches on the night of December 31, and went out to celebrate.
The 8 ft by 8 ft oil-on-canvas was a personal project that the artist ventured on purely because he was drawn to the "personality" of the subject and the "ideas he represented". Therefore, he made no move to exhibit it. Until now. "The Crucifixion and Resurrection" is up for public viewing at Gallery 1, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, till January 7 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
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SCIENCE and technology exhibitions are always great crowd-pullers, and Science Expo 2003 is here to dazzle the young and the old alike. Sponsored by ISRO, Indian Science Congress and Bangalore University, the exhibition showcases the country's cutting-edge technologies, as well as the latest in space technology at the Global Space Galleria. Technology-driven and innovative products and concepts are on display. During the Science Film Festival, documentaries and docudramas on scientists and science-related subjects are being screened. Open to the public from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. till January 7 at the Jnanabharathi Campus of Bangalore University. Local cinemas are being roped in to screen sci-fi films, and the organisers propose to get them to show classics such as "Solaris", "2001 - A Space Odyssey", "Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde", and even "Modern Times"!
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THE New Year begins "expansively", if not expensively, for those who like to wander around large open grounds peering into stalls stacked with interesting exhibits. It's been over a decade since the National Handloom and Textile Expo last came to Bangalore, and this time the theme is "Fibre to Fabric". Textiles, saris, readymade garments and furnishing material; tye-and-dye, vegetable-dye and block-print; Patola, Paithani, Gadwal and Venkatagiri — it's an endless spread laid out by weavers from all over India in 120 stalls. The host state, Karnataka, has been particularly well represented through its traditional weaves from practically every region. There are demonstrations of techniques; cultural programmes in the evenings, food stalls to renew weary bodies, and an amusement park to keep the young busy. On till January 15 at Palace Grounds (the Sankey Road entrance near Cauvery theatre) from 1 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. on working days and 11 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. on Sundays and general holidays.
C.K. MEENA
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